An unapologetic North Korea declared Tuesday that it had conducted a test of a nuclear bomb after the detonation was detected by the U.S. Geological Survey.

"On February 12th... we successfully conducted a third underground nuclear test in the northern underground nuclear test site," the Daily NK reported, in a translation of Pyongyang's announcement on the state-run news agency, KCNA.

By conducting the test, the isolated authoritarian regime made good on a Jan. 24 pledge by North Korea's top military organ, the National Defense Commission, in further defiance of admonitions from the international community to cease and desist in its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

---

The test was met with condemnation from around the globe. The White House called it a "highly provocative act" that warrants "further swift and credible action from the international community." Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said Beijing was "strongly dissatisfied and resolutely opposed" to the move by its neighbor and long-time Communist ally.

 

South Korea and Japan convened emergency meetings of their top national security officials, while the UN Security Council held an emergency meeting Tuesday, after which it promised to "begin work immediately" to draft a new resolution against the North.

The explosion was registered as a 5.1-magnitude seismic event by the USGS at 9:57 p.m. ET Monday. The U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence quickly judged that North Korea had "probably conducted an underground nuclear explosion" with a yield of "several kilotons."

In a statement, President Barack Obama said the test "undermines regional stability, violates North Korea's obligations under numerous United Nations Security Council resolutions, contravenes its [international] commitments … and increases the risk of proliferation" in the wake of what he described as a "ballistic missile launch" by North Korea on Dec. 12.

"North Korea's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs constitute a threat to U.S. national security and to international peace and security," Obama said. 

U.S. officials have previously told NBC News that North Korea has up to a "few dozen" nuclear weapons that could be fitted on ballistic missiles, far more than had previously been believed.

Obama on Tuesday said that "the danger posed by North Korea's threatening activities warrants further swift and credible action by the international community," adding that the U.S. would work with the international community to "pursue firm action."

'Vile hostile acts'
In a tit-for-tat that has characterized a diplomatic stalemate for decades, North Korea blamed the United States for forcing its hand.

"This nuclear test was conducted as part of measures to safeguard the country’s security and independence in order to deal with the vile hostile acts of the United States, which violated our Republic’s legitimate right to peaceful satellite launches,” according to the KCNA report.

The comment refers UN Security Council Resolution 2087, passed after to Pyongyang's Dec. 12 rocket launch, heaping sanctions on previous sanctions against North Korea, further deepening the regime's isolation.

The resolution called on North Korea to abandon its nuclear program and any weapons and allow verification; to conduct no more launches using ballistic missile technology; and to conduct no more nuclear tests.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the latest test was a "clear and grave violation."

Later, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported that North Korea threatened, citing an unidentified foreign ministry spokesman, to conduct more nuclear tests if the U.S. moves to penalize it for Tuesday's test.

At a disarmament forum in Geneva on Tuesday, a North Korean official said that his country would not change course in the current climate, Reuters reported.

"The U.S. and their followers are sadly mistaken if they miscalculate the DPRK would respect the entirely unreasonable resolutions against it. The DPRK will never bow to any resolutions," Jon Yong Ryong, first secretary of North Korea's mission in Geneva, told the Conference on Disarmament, referring to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

South Korea's government said in a statement that Tuesday's nuclear test, "poses a direct challenge to the whole international community as well as an unacceptable threat to the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia."

It said the government would stand firm in that it "will not tolerate a nuclear North Korea" and added that it will "also accelerate expanding its military capability, including deploying at an early stage its extended-range missiles, currently being developed, which cover all of North Korea."

Major hostilities in the 1950-1953 Korean War ended with armistice, not a peace treaty. Today, North Korean forces and South Korean forces bolstered by about 28,000 U.S. troops remain faced off at the 38th parallel, where the Korean Peninsula was divided.

Between 2003 and 2007, North Korean took party in several rounds of the so-called "Six Party Talks" with South Korea, China, the United States, Russia and Japan, in an attempt to reverse Pyongyang's nuclear weapons development in return for fuel and progress towards normalization of relations. The talks went on hold and then fell apart for good in April 2009 and Pyongyang expelled UN inspectors from the country.

China 'humiliated'
A key unanswered question is what Beijing will do after North Korea's latest move. The long-time Communist ally and neighbor, which has strategic reasons to continue supporting the regime in Pyongyang, nonetheless expressed its strong opposition to the test.

"China has been humiliated," according to Andrei Lankov, a veteran analyst of North Korea based in Seoul's Kookmin Unversity. That could prompt a change in Beijing's approach, he said.

"This time, China explicitly warned North Korea against conducting the test, but they were ignored," Landov added. "A Chinese government newspaper said two weeks ago that in the case of a nuclear test, China might significantly reduce its aid to North Korea."

China is a major source of aid to North Korea and key to keeping its decrepit economy afloat. China is also one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council with the power to veto sanctions.

The United States and other countries have urged China to put pressure on Pyongyang, but it remained to be seen how far Beijing would go to confront its old comrade.

"They are not happy about nuclear adventurism. At the same time though, a collapsing non-nuclear North Korea is far worse than a nuclear but stable North Korea," Lankov said.

North wants U.S. recognition
Professor Yan Xuetong, a top international security analyst at China's Tsinghua University, said "the key to the North Korean nuclear challenge is in the hands of the United States, not China."

"China is certainly opposed to North Korea's latest nuclear test and opposed to North Korea becoming a nuclear power, but the test was aimed at the Unite States with the aim of forcing the U.S. to normalize relations with North Korea, but if the U.S. doesn't want to play the  game of trade-off, then there is not much that China can do," he said.

Yan, who closely follows government policy thinking on the issue, argued that "the role of economic sanctions is limited," suggesting China will not stop economic assistance to North Korea because of the latest test.

"What China should do is to act as bridge between North Korea and the United States so that they will agree to a trade-off, with the U.S. granting recognition to the North Korean government in exchange for it giving up its nuclear program," he said.

"If the U.S. views North Korea's nuclear threat with the same seriousness as it views Iran's nuclear threat, then there will be hope for solving the North Korea's nuclear problem," he said.

NBC News staff writers Ian Johnston, Eric Baculinao, John Newland and Arata Yamamoto contributed to this report.

Related:

Analysis: China fears alienating nuclear-armed Kim

N. Korea propaganda video shows US city in flames 

Show of force: US, South Korea hold naval drills

This story was originally published on Tue Feb 12, 2013 12:11 PM EST

 

SEOUL - North Korea said on Thursday it would carry out further rocket launches and a nuclear test that would target the United States, dramatically stepping up its threats against a country it called its "enemy".

The announcement by the country's top military body came a day after the United Nations Security Council agreed a U.S.-backed resolution to censure and sanction the country for a rocket launch in December that breached U.N. rules.

"We are not disguising the fact that the various satellites and long-range rockets that we will fire and the high-level nuclear test we will carry out are targeted at the United States," North Korea's National Defense Commission said, according to state news agency KCNA.

---

North Korea is believed by South Korea and other observers to be "technically ready" for a third nuclear test, and the decision to go ahead rests with leader Kim Jong-un who pressed ahead with the December rocket launch in defiance of the U.N. sanctions. 

"Whether North Korea tests or not is up to North Korea," Glyn Davies, the top U.S. envoy for North Korean diplomacy, said in the South Korean capital of Seoul as KCNA released its statement.

"We hope they don't do it. We call on them not to do it," Davies said. "This is not a moment to increase tensions on the Korean peninsula."

The North was banned from developing missile and nuclear technology under sanctions dating from its 2006 and 2009 nuclear tests.

The concern now is that Pyongyang, whose only major diplomatic ally, China, endorsed the latest U.N. resolution, could undertake a third nuclear test using highly enriched uranium for the first time, opening a second path to a bomb.

North Korea's propaganda poets stay true to their muse despite world's laughter

Its previous tests have been viewed as limited successes and used plutonium, of which the North has limited stocks.

North Korea gave no time-frame for the coming test and often employs harsh rhetoric in response to U.N. and U.S. actions.

Its long-range rockets are not seen as capable of reaching the United States mainland and it is not believed to have the technology to mount a nuclear warhead on a long-range missile.

"The UNSC (Security Council) resolution masterminded by the U.S. has brought its hostile policy towards the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (North Korea) to its most dangerous stage," the commission was quoted as saying.

Related:

 North Korea pledges to boost nuclear capability after UN rebuke

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

DUBAI -- Iran has successfully test-fired a new short-range missile equipped with a guidance system that it plans to install on all future missiles it builds, Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said Saturday. 

"With the fourth-generation of the Fateh 110, the armed forces of our country are able to target and destroy land and sea targets, enemy headquarters ... missile seats, ammunition sites, radars and other points," Vahidi said in quotes carried by Islamic Republic News Agency.  

---

The Fateh 110 has a range of around 180 miles, IRNA reported, meaning it would only be able to strike Iran's immediate neighbors. 

The announcement follows mounting tension over Iran's nuclear facilities, which the Islamic Republic says are geared solely towards electricity production, but which Western countries believe are aimed at developing an atomic bomb. 

 Israel tells US time is running out for peaceful end to Iran nuclear dispute

"Using new guidance methods, target-striking systems were installed on the missiles and during the flight test... its ability to hit the target without deviation was proven," Vahidi said according to IRNA. 

"In future programs all future missiles built by the Defense Ministry will be equipped with this capability," he added. 

 Iran: We can destroy US bases 'minutes after an attack'

Iranian officials have threatened in the past to close the Strait of Hormuz, the neck of the Gulf through which 40 percent of the world's sea-borne oil exports pass, in retaliation for sanctions levied against its crude exports, or military action. 

Such a move would risk a military response from the United States, which has built up its military presence in the Gulf. 

Vahidi also said the missile was intended as a defensive weapon. "These capabilities are defensive and would only be used against aggressors and those who threaten the country's interests and territorial integrity," he said. 

More world stories from NBC News:

• UN General Assembly condemns Syrian regime; Russia and China balk
• Cholera threatens displaced Congolese
• Belarus, Sweden kick out ambassadors as teddy bear war heats up
• Reuters confirms hackers posted fake Syria news story on its service
• Olympic hosts: Londoners open their homes to the world
• President: Mexico gang-related deaths fall by 15 percent in 2012
• Baby elephant orphaned in slaughter finds a foster mom
• Images: The lives of Syrian rebels fighting for freedom

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Russia has successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile – designed to counter a U.S. defense shield being set up in Europe - firing it from one end of the country to the other, according to reports.

News channel Russia Today’s website said that the missile was launched Wednesday from a facility at Plesetsk in northwestern Russia and hit the Kura target range on the Kamchatka Peninsula on the Pacific coast in the country’s east.

---

Retired Col.-General Viktor Yesin told Russia Today that the missile was "one of the military-technical measures, which Russia’s military-political leadership is taking in response to the deployment of a global anti-missile defense system by the Americans."

The website reported that in September that a test of prototype of the missile had failed. It landed only about six miles from the launch pad.

Interceptor for Europe anti-missile shield tested off Hawaii

The new missile is expected to improve Russia's offensive arsenal, "including by increasing the capability to overcome missile defense systems that are being created," Russia’s defense ministry said in a statement, according to Reuters. 

Missile with no name?
Russia usually names its weapons, but the defense ministry made no mention of a name for the new missile. It said it could be fired from a mobile launcher. 

US nuke upgrade to trigger new arms race with Russia?

Russia opposes a missile shield the United States and NATO are deploying in Europe, saying it will be able to intercept Russian warheads by about 2018, weakening Moscow's nuclear arsenal and upsetting the post-Cold War balance of power. 

The United States says the system is intended to counter a potential threat from Iran and poses no risk to Russia, but the Kremlin has rejected those assurances and stepped up criticism of the system, to be deployed in four phases by about 2020. 

Last autumn, then-President Dmitry Medvedev outlined steps Russia was taking to neutralize the perceived threat, including upgrades to Russia's offensive nuclear arsenal. 

Russia threatens preemptive strike over planned US missile shield

Russia and the United States are still in talks to agree cooperation on missile defense, but Moscow has warned of further measures if no such deal is reached and Washington refuses to provide binding guarantees its system will not threaten Russia. 

At a conference in Moscow this month, senior General Nikolai Makarov said Russia could carry out preemptive strikes on future NATO missile defense installations to protect its security. 

Panetta seeks another $70M for Israel's 'Iron Dome' rocket shield

The European system is to include interceptor missile installations in Poland and Romania and a radar in Turkey as well as interceptors and radars on ships based in the Mediterranean Sea. 

Reuters contributed to this report.

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Aid workers targeted amid new Pakistan crisis
• 'Boiling point': On Lebanon’s Syria Street, a mini-civil war brews
• Jubilee treat: Canadian Mounties guard UK's queen
• Africa's Rainbow Nation troubled by racist time warp
• 'Nearly empty': A rare glimpse inside Syria rebel stronghold
• Terror suspect's eye color? UK's flying cameras know
• Analysis: How Egypt's election can transform the Middle East

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

 

Pakistan successfully test-fired a nuclear-capable ballistic missile on Wednesday, the military said, less than a week after rival India tested a missile capable of delivering nuclear warheads as far as Beijing and Eastern Europe.

Pakistan's Shaheen-1A is an intermediate range ballistic missile, capable of reaching targets in India. A defense official told NBC News that it had a range of about 1500 km (932 miles).

---

The missile's impact point was in the Indian Ocean. The defense official told NBC News that it had "hit a target in the sea."

The New York Times reported on Thursday that India’s launch of its own Agni 5 ballistic missile, capable of reaching Beijing and Shanghai, gained it entry to the small club of nations with long-range nuclear capability, including China, Britain, France, Russia, Israel and the United States.

It said the successful test of the weapon – dubbed the "China Killer" by India’s media -- marked the latest escalation of an arms race in Asia, where the assertiveness and rising military power of China has rattled the region and prompted a forceful response from the Obama administration.

China wary as US, Philippines stage war games

India and Pakistan have fought three full-scale wars since they were carved out of British India as independent nations in 1947.

They conduct missile tests regularly and inform each other in advance.

Pakistan conducted nuclear tests in May 1998, shortly after India conducted similar tests. U.S. intelligence estimates last year put the number of nuclear weapons deployed by Pakistan at 90 to 110.

Analysts say the strategic U.S. ally's nuclear arsenal is the fastest-growing in the world. Pakistan, like neighboring India, is not a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT).

Standoff at 'world's highest battlefield' leaves 140 dead in tragedy

News website dawn.com said Pakistan’s arsenal includes short, medium and long range missiles named after Muslim conquerors.

It said President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani congratulated the scientists working on the program over the success of the missile test.

Reuters contributed to this report.

CAIRO - An Egyptian military court on Sunday acquitted an army doctor charged with carrying out a forced virginity test on a female detainee during protests last year, said a court source, in a case that has fuelled anger against the ruling generals.

Activist Samira Ibrahim, who defied taboos in the conservative Muslim country to raise her case, said she was forced to undergo a virginity test in March last year after she was arrested during a protest in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

Ibrahim's and similar cases stoked criticism of the generals who took control of Egypt after Hosni Mubarak was driven from office on Feb. 11, 2011, by a popular uprising.

---

"The army doctor Ahmed Adel was found not guilty in the case of virginity tests because of conflicting witness accounts," said the military judicial source, who asked not to be named.

Egypt's state news agency confirmed Sunday's court ruling, adding that the accounts of three witnesses in the case conflicted with a fourth.

Ibrahim declined to comment to Reuters after the ruling.

Outside the court, around 30 protesters gathered, shouting: "Down down military rule" and "We demanded dignity and change. Instead they stripped our girls in Tahrir".

Controversy over the virginity tests gathered pace after a general was quoted by CNN last year as saying tests were carried out to prove the women were not virgins when they were detained, so they could not say they were raped in detention.

An army official later denied the comments were made.

Ibrahim was sentenced to a one-year suspended prison term for insulting authorities, joining an illegal assembly and breaking a curfew.

A civilian court issued a ruling in December ordering the army to end the practice and a military judicial official then said cases of reported forced virginity tests had been transferred to the Supreme Military Court.

More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Iraqi teens stoned to death for wearing 'emo' clothes
• Worst Gaza flare-up in months kills 14, Palestinians say
• Slimy but tasty seaweed returns to Japan
• Dominique Strauss-Kahn flees student protesters

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

 

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.